Hey, I've chatted with Reggie/WarrantMan a little concerning winemaking, and so far I know just enough to throw a couple of the words around as if I know what I'm talking about. Where I live we're blessed with an abundance of wild fruit and a couple of rhubarb bushes (yes, bushes). I've talked for years about getting into winemaking, and the bumper crop of chokecherry this season has me doing just a little more than talking, to the point where the Darlin' Bride has expressed a desire to buy me a "kit" for Christmas. Well cool....

Except neither of us really know where to start, there seems to be 735 "kits" of various capacities and inventories of parts and a price spectrum that kicks our asses. I know from Reggie that I'd need 2 carboys, which means an additional purchase because NOBODY sells a kit with more than one carboy...In fact I haven't seen an all-inclusive kit yet, though the verbage in almost every ad claims "everything you need"....I'd ask Reggie direct, but he does the po'boy method, I don't scrounge so good...

I think that all I really need is a brand name or a vender that avid hobbyists trust, I can take it from there. I'd like the first experience to lead to a second one....

Wild fruit types we got growing all over:

Chokecherry

Currant

Dogwood

Raspberry

Strawberry

Plumb

...and the rhubarb, one of the best self generating edibles out there.....

You dont need a kit, just choose your favorite fruit and look at some of the recipes out their, see what yeast they use and get it from local brew store. Food grade buckets are cheap at hardware store $5/5gall here at Homedepot. As long as you are clean and its in a clean space you dont need to worry much.

Plum is a nice base with Rhubarb and Strawberry for my taste, so you need to mix and match as is and give it a taste to see what you like, again look at other recipes to see quantities.

I have a kit at my house i got as a gift when i quit my sushi making job and started my wine making job. Iv'e never used my kit but i had planned in making some fruit wines soon. I use the big boy kit at my job so i haven't felt like making wine at home or mead. Any questions feel free to message me. You can ferment in a food grade bucket then rack to a carboy for secondary fermentation.

I'll be damned. My must is fizzing like a fresh opened can of Canada Dry! I pitched the yeast (Red Star Premier Classique/ Montrachet) yesterday between 11 am and noon, and she's already saturated the cloth top from the bubbling....

Why I didn't get into this 20 years ago I'll never know, but it's almost as fun as a Secret Satan!

Made a small I-phone vid for you in ref our last conversation, but for some reason not able to send. So here it is for whatever you may glean...

Hey Reggie, thanks for that encouraging vid! I've had my gallon of 13% ABV stuff residing in a cool, dark corner of my studio, temp down to 64F, almost no headroom on the carboy whatsoever. There's a miniscule white ring around the exposed edge, but the wine has gone back to that fruity bubblegum smell, so no doubt we're on track!

I did order a 15 dollar acid/ph kit, wanna get my sauce adjusted before I add any sweetening, if I add any at all.

Yeah, carboys would be cool, and I'll pay shipping. No point in you having all the fun!!

Now, go freak the neighborhood tweakers with a loud offkey rendition of Trower!!